The Rams didn’t just survive Week 7 against the Raiders. They may have given themselves a look at part of their future.
With injuries forcing the roster deeper than planned, Los Angeles leaned on a handful of young players who were asked to do more than usual and, in several cases, answered in a big way. In a game that could have tilted the wrong direction and damaged playoff hopes, those replacements held up well enough to help deliver the win.
One of the clearest bright spots was inside linebacker Shaun Dolac. He didn’t lead the team in tackles, but the tape tells a different story about his impact.
Dolac played with the kind of poise that makes him look older than he is, and his style fits neatly alongside Omar Speights rather than overlapping with him. He’s the kind of no-frills defender who hunts the football, finishes plays, and brings the sort of edge that lifts the unit around him.
Davis Allen also made a strong case for a bigger future. With both he and Colby Parkinson in the final year of their contracts, Allen suddenly looks like the more affordable extension candidate.
After scoring two touchdowns in Week 7, he made a persuasive argument for being the better investment. He’s more than a pass catcher, too; Allen is a blocking specialist whose work in that area compares to an offensive lineman’s.
And yet he still brings value as a receiver, with a catch rate north of 70 percent. That kind of versatility matters, especially in this offense.
Up front, Ty Hamilton is starting to look like a player the Rams can trust with more responsibility. The rookie was a slow starter, but his role has expanded with nose tackle Poona Ford out for the rest of 2026, and he’s beginning to show why the team has kept feeding him snaps.
Hamilton only finished Week 7 with two tackles and one quarterback hit, but the bigger point is that he flashed the traits that make him intriguing. He plays with the versatility of a Kobie Turner padawan and brings energy on every snap.
After logging just 131 defensive snaps as a rookie in 2025, he’s set for a much larger workload now, and the learning curve should keep moving in the right direction.
Konata Mumpfield is the most intriguing receiver in this group. There’s something about him that doesn’t fully jump off the screen, but Sean McVay clearly trusts him and keeps leaning his way.
Through this season, Mumpfield has caught nine of 19 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown, which works out to 15.8 yards per catch. That production stands out even more when you look around the rest of the receiver room.
Jordan Whittington has caught two of three targets for 12 yards this year, while Tutu Atwell has three catches for 31 yards on four targets. Mumpfield may not be there yet as a volume receiver, but if he starts catching more than half his targets, his role should grow fast.
Even now, the Rams are already acting like they believe in him.
Los Angeles doesn’t have a pile of 2027 draft picks waiting to reshape the roster, but it does have a few young players who are making their case the old-fashioned way: by taking advantage of real NFL snaps when the opportunity comes. With injuries still thinning the depth chart, these are the sorts of auditions that can turn into something bigger.
In Other News...
Rams May Have A Short-Term Answer To Their Kicker Problem
Kicking issues have a way of surfacing at the worst possible time, and around the league there is already speculation that Tennessee veteran Joey Slye could be part of the next round of roster shuffling. Slye is on an expiring contract with a $2 million cap hit, and analyst Jason La Canfora pointed to him as a possible trade candidate if teams decide they need a steadier leg before the season drifts any further.
For the Rams, that sort of move would fit the kind of short-term fix teams often explore when the position becomes unsettled. Slye has bounced around the league since going undrafted in 2019, and he has handled himself well in Tennessee this year, making 10 of 11 field goals and all of his extra-point attempts in seven games. If Los Angeles is looking for a veteran answer rather than waiting on internal options, he would be one of the more obvious names to monitor. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Are Still Waiting On A Huge Pass Rush Boost
The Rams have spent the past few weeks waiting for a familiar kind of lift on defense, and Myles Garrett could be the one to provide it. After missing six games following knee surgery, the pass rusher is nearing a possible return to practice, a sign that Los Angeles may finally be close to getting back one of the pieces it has been missing up front.
Sean McVay still has not put a timeline on the move, saying the next step will come after he confers with the medical staff and Garrett himself. But the possibility of him getting back on the field in practice this week, with a chance to be available in Week 8, gives the Rams a reason to keep an eye on the injury report and the state of a defense that could use the boost. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Have A Huge Chance To Cash In On Chargers Chaos
Week 8 brings a rare crosstown matchup with real stakes attached, and the Rams enter it with a chance to keep their season pointed in the right direction. At 3-4, they are still hanging around the playoff race, while the Chargers have stumbled to 0-6 and arrive with little margin left to salvage anything. For a Rams team trying to stack wins and stay relevant in a crowded NFC picture, this is the kind of game that can matter later.
Offensively, the Rams have leaned even more on Puka Nacua with Davante Adams out, and that has made their passing game feel built around one clear focal point. Against a Chargers team searching for answers, the Rams do not just get a divisional opponent across town, they get a chance to cash in on the chaos and protect their own momentum at the same time. [Read more 🡒]